Night 2 Premier League Darts Preview

James Punt landed a nice winning bet on Night 1 with the draw predicted at 4.20 between Anderson and Wade. He is hoping to have even more success this evening, check out his Night 2 Premier League darts preview and tips below..

Night 2 Premier League: Gary Anderson vs Jose De Sousa

This will be these two players first match. De Sousa is a player still improving after getting his tour card in 2019. He won two players championship events in his first season and last year, his first euro tour title and his first major championship, the Grand Slam of Darts. Anderson on the other hand is playing in his tenth Premier League but is a player who has fallen back from his peak form in 2015 to 2017.

Gary Anderson drew with James Wade last night in a match which saw both players start off looking a bit rusty but they soon got going and Anderson ended up averaging 98, despite checking out at 30% and being a bit light on the 180’s with just two hit.

Jose De Sousa drew with Rob Cross in what wasn’t a great game. De Sousa was very shy of the treble 20 for the first half of the match, missing and then switching to treble 19 and he looked to be lacking a little confidence. De Sousa managed to win 3 legs in a row to go 6-4 up but Cross won the last two with 16 and 12 dart legs. De Sousa averaged 91.6 with a 35% checkout rate and 4 180’s.

Must Do Better

He will have to do better this evening as he was well shy of his normal level of play. He had three good legs but needed Cross to have some weak legs to end up with a draw.

Gary Anderson was more impressive last night but his doubling was weak while De Sousa was blowing hot and cold and looking a little tense.

Anderson is the 2.40 marginal favourite with De Sousa 2.50 and the draw 4.50. There were four drawn matches last night and of course I tipped the opening match to be a draw and it was the only one that wasn’t.

This is a tricky one. De Sousa was far from his best last night but still got a point. That might have settled him down as he did look a bit tense. Anderson played well in a high scoring match, but his doubling is a worry. I think Anderson can win this one, but De Sousa will win legs and Anderson can’t afford to be sloppy on the outer ring.

Night 2 Premier League Tip: 0.5 point Anderson to win 7-5 @ 10.00 with Hills, Betfred

Night 2 Premier League: Jonny Clayton vs. Glen Durrant

Durrant remains some way off his best form and is struggling with a lack of confidence. Jonny Clayton on the other hand is perhaps the most confident player in darts. This another match where the two players have not played each other.

Duzza was the only player not to garner a point last night and he was the worst player, averaging just 87.99. He has had a poor season but that was well below even his current form. It was a basic lack of accuracy, hitting the wrong bed and he allowed Aspinall to relax, put no pressure on him at all and Aspinall was even giving encouragement to Durrant. Perhaps feeling a bit sorry for him? He just looked wrong. There was little confidence in his throw and he was just hoping that the dart would hit the target rather than expecting it to.

Jonny Clayton on the other hand was exactly as we have become to expect. Averaging 105.5, the highest of the night. He needed that just to get a draw with the in-form Peter Wright. Over his last 50 matches, Clayton is averaging over a ton in 48% of them, his seasonal average is 99. Durrant’s seasonal average is 90.5.

Clayton is the 1.44 favourite and that may be a bit generous. Durrant is likely to be under a lot of pressure from Clayton’s scoring and when a player is lacking confidence, that is a recipe for disaster.

Night 2 Premier League Tip: 2 points Clayton to win -3.50 legs @ 2.40 with Ladbrokes, Unibet

Night 2 Premier League Tip: 0.5 point Clayton to win 7-1 @ 13.00 with Skybet

Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Nathan Aspinall

It is 3-3 in the H2H stats and here we have two of the players who were third and fourth favourite to miss the cut. Both are out of form although it must be said that Dimitri is scoring well, just not getting the results. Winning just three matches in the calendar year while averaging 97.3 will be very frustrating and frustration can start a vicious circle leading to a loss of confidence. However, if he can keep on scoring well, the results will come. He won the last two meetings between these two, a 16-15 and a 5-1 win at last year’s GSOD.

Van den Bergh played well against MVG last night, averaging 99.5 and having 4 legs with 15 or fewer darts. He was playing without the knee brace for the first time and he was pleased with his nights work as MVG was playing well and the draw was hard won.

Aspinall was the only winner on the opening night, and he had a nice, stress free victory over the out of form Glen Durrant. The Asp averaged 97.6, hit 5 180’s and checked out at 50%. It was very good performance and perhaps a sign that he is turning a corner form wise.

Aspinall will have a much tougher job tonight. There was very little coming back from Durrant last night, while Van den Bergh was able to match a strong performance by MVG. The draw must be a realistic proposition.

Night 2 Premier League: 1 point drawn match @ 4.50 with Betvictor, SpreadEx

Michael van Gerwen vs. Peter Wright

Wright had a tough opponent on the opening night in Jonny Clayton, and it does not get much easier tonight, playing his great rival, MVG. Snakebite has been trying to play mind games with Van Gerwen again, saying the MVG will not win a TV title in 2021. The last time he tried the mind games was going into the World Championship, saying that Michael had no chance and it was only going to be won by himself or Gerwyn Price. He was half right but not in the way he had hoped.

Their H2H record is very much in MVG’s favour, 47-17. Van Gerwen remains Snakebite’s bogeyman. Trying to wind up a man with that kind of H2H record over you, does not seem entirely wise. Yes, MVG is suffering with a fragile confidence level, but he is still averaging over the ton in 2021. That said, they met six times in 2020 and it was 3-3, with the World Championship final being the first win over MVG in 2020.

Wright played himself back into top form by winning PC8, the final event at Super Series 2. Wright played 16 matches at SS2 and won 13, averaging over 100 in nine of those matches. It was a very good performance and came at just the right time. Van Gerwen on the other hand decided to miss out on SS2 altogether.

Good Point For Snakebite

Wright got a point against man of the moment Jonny Clayton last night. Wright averaged 101.2 but most impressively, he was 100% on the doubles, 6 from 6.

Van Gerwen probably had a feeling of déjà vu last night. He is getting used to players upping their game when they play him. Van den Bergh averaged 99.5 against him last night and had a nice 164 checkout to win one leg. MVG had to win the final leg of the match to get the point and did so with a 12 darter. It was a 100 average with 43% checkout rate and two maximums.

Both players were in good form last night and there was no sign of any rust in MVG’s game. Peter Wright carried on from his good performance at Super Series 2.

Michael van Gerwen is the 2.15 favourite, Wright 2.88 and the draw 4.50. They have played 13 times in the PL with MVG winning 8, drawing 2 and losing 3.

This could go either way and a close match should be expected. Over 11.5 legs is just 2.05 and a draw is very much in the frame. MVG is playing well  but his confidence remains brittle. There was much pulling up of socks last night, a sign that he is feeling it. Snakebite is playing well enough to put MVG under pressure and I have the feeling that MVG might just crack at some point and that might be the difference.

Night 2 Premier League Tip: 0.5 point Peter Wright to win 7-5 @ 7.00 with Betfred, Skybet

James Wade vs. Rob Cross

Late replacement, James Wade acquitted himself well when drawing with Gary Anderson last night. He averaged 98.1 and hit six maximums. His 180 count was un-Wade like but 50% on the doubles was.

Rob Cross wasn’t able to take full advantage of an under-par performance by Jose de Sousa and despite the commentators saying that Cross played very well, I though he played well at times but also dropped winnable legs. He had four good legs but he let De Sousa win legs with 20 darts, 17 darts and 16 darts and if he was playing really well, Cross would have won the match by a comfortable margin. He dropped a point in my opinion. He ended up with a 96.5 average, hit six 180’s and was 50% on checkouts.

The two players match stats from night one were very similar and their career H2H record is 8-8. They last met at the UK Open when Wade was the 10-7 winner. Wade won two of their three matches in the last 12 months.

Wade is the 1.95 favourite, Cross 3.25 and the draw at 4.75.

Machine In Working Order

James Wade has been in much better form in 2021 so far. There are signs that Cross is playing better but Wade seems to have found not only good form, but some much needed consistency. He has played 40 matches in 2021 and won 30, a 75% win rate.

In terms of 180’s per leg, Rob Cross’ 6 from 12 last night was his joint second highest across his last 50 matches, exactly the same case for James Wade’s last 50. They both over performed in the 180 department. They are unlikely to repeat the feat again tonight, but it does suggest they have their eye in and in what should be a fairly close match (over 10.5 legs is just 1.48) hitting more than 5.5 between them sounds feasible.

Night 2 Premier League Tip: 1 point over 5.50 180’s @ 2.10 with SpreadEx

-JamesPunt